25 (ish) books in 2018 anyone?

[Homemadehopeful]

I know there is the 50 books thread but that is totally unrealistic for me so wondered whether anyone wants a slower paced thread with a hopefully more achievable target?

I read 22 books last year and have set myself a target of 25 for this year.

I've started with The Handmaid's Tale, nearly finished and really enjoyed it.

Finished 13 (How Not To Be A Boy) and 14 (Cider with Rosie, my "book I read at school"). Just starting The Miniaturist, wish me luck!

Finished no 9 Salaam Brick Lane by Tarquin Hall, posh boy comes home from his travels and realises he cannot afford to live in Barnes so ends up in an attic in Brick Lane. The book is his 12 months of living there and mixing with the locals. I'd give it a 3/5, interesting to see what the area was like in the early 2000's - it's changed much since then but it's always been a place of constant change as new waves of immigrants come in. A bit cliched in places but quite entertaining.

For my book club I've just started The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters - a murder mystery in a world on the brink of the apocalypse in the form of an asteroid.

I have finished books 6 and 7, both dip in and out books - I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron, a collection of essays which was entertaining enough, and Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes, which is her guide to all things beauty and was very comprehensive as well as being a jolly good read.
Back to proper fiction next!

Book 13: Race the Wind - Lauren St John, 2nd book in The One Dollar horse trilogy. YA fiction but actually suitable for 10-12 yrs imo. Enjoyed it as it was very easy reading.

Next book is Educated by Tara Westover. Dd bought it for me for Mother's Day as it's the next book for my book club.

Finished book 5:

All the good things

A sad story about a child of a mum with MH issues and what becomes of her as a result.

6/10

witch do it. No one would ever regret reading Ove imo

Books 9 and 10 finished.

1. Elizabeth is missing. I really enjoyed this. Really well told, story was good. I loved the insight into dementia especially as a close family member is suffering from it. Just made it make sense.

10. Hillsborough Voices. Kevin Sampson. The story of the Hillsborough football disaster and the fight for justice. As a football fan who went to pretty much every home game of my team with my parents from the age of 10, I was around the same age of some of the younger teenage victims when it all unfolded. An absorbing but chilling read.

And I've just seen several people addressed comments to me which I didn't answer. Sorry. I'm away and Internet has been intermittent. Not ignoring attempts to start discussions, promise!

I finished Roddy Doyle Smile but found it a bit underwhelming. I then read Hope a memoir written by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus about their kidnap by Ariel Castor and incarceration over a ten year period. It came up on BookBub a while ago but I had put off reading it thinking it would be hard to read. In actual fact it is a story of great courage and endurance. I'm glad I read it. Have just started another Roddy Doyle book, The Woman who Walked into Doors.

So I finished Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, took just over a week to read. It’s a surprisingly light hearted read given the subject is loneliness and child abuse.

I will start Shantaram next.

Would like to know, has everyone read anything recently that really got them pondering life or aspiring a change?

Are there any family travel journals out there? I don’t mean how to travel with a young family - we have our second child on the way - but more what happened when you did or moved aboard.

Just finished The Miniaturist! Now I can watch it! That's no 14?

No, 15!

I’m currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It was on the kindle daily deals the other day and so far, it’s good. It’s not what I usually chose to read but Bladerunner is based on it and is one of DH’s favourite films so planning on watching the film together when I’ve finished.

It’s a seriously short book too which helps

Today I finished 12: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I thought it was really good, engaging writing, interesting story and so heartbreaking at the end. I would recommend this to anyone although it is not a cheerful read...

My list so far is:
Doctor sleep - Stephen King
Big little lies - Liane Moriarty
The last Anniversary - " "
The husbands secret - " "
Truly madly guilty - " "
The ritual - Adam Nevill
Sleeping beauties - Stephen King/Owen King
Fierce Kingdom - Gin Phillips
Longbourn - Jo Baker

And I'm currently 75% through Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews.

My list is a bit pants 😂
I really need to switch off the box sets and read a bit more. It makes me happier too!

My next book will be either
The remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro,
The last Tudor by Philippa Gregory or
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.

Decisions!

1. The skull throne (Peter V Brett) This is number four and the penultimate book in the demon cycle series. Not enjoying this one as much, seems to be about nothing at all really! Waiting for the final book to be available at the library so going to rootle around in my MASSIVE box of books to read for something a bit more light and easygoing.

Finished 16 - My Not So Perfect Life. This is almost looking like I could do 52.
I have a medieval mystery that my dad gave me, or a Dickens book (I have at least 3, and I have generally tried to avoid them, but it's for the book published over 100 years ago).
Or The Splits which is self-published, it's by a fellow Mumsnetter. Bit outside of my comfort zone TBH! Or I'm going to re-read Persepolis 2 for the banned book.
I am thinking I'll go for a parenting book for the "improve a specific area of your life" but not sure which yet, and I need a book set in a place I'll visit this year - which will be the Cote d'Azur, Dubrovnik, Reading or Liverpool so far...

Decided to read Tale of Two Cities, no 17. It has 45 chapters and they are quite short but still v dense and I'm pretty sure one a day is a reasonable goal.
I have one book reserved at the library but it's an old favourite from childhood so may be a good bit of light relief.

(So I'll see you in 6 weeks time)

I just finished number 13: The Good People by Hannah Kent. I loved Burial Rites so was excited to start this- I found the beginning difficult to get into. I had to persevere but when the consequences of superstition and folklore really started to unravel it became both heartbreaking and interesting. Well enjoyed in the end

I finished Roddy Doyle The Woman who walked into doors. I enjoyed it ok but didn't live it. He writes in a Dublin accent and I find that a bit off-putting.

Can't believe I am starting into book 19! I only read 22 books in total last year! I'm really enjoying books at the moment though. So book 19 is The Key by Kathryn Hughes. I read her book The Letter and liked it so purchased this one too.

I read exactly 26 last year, but I'm also ahead this year.

drspouse it might be all the good suggestions on this thread. My TBR pile is quickly growing!

Could be!
I got two Alexander McCall Smith books out of the library and I'm having a break from Dickens with one of them.
I'm becoming disenchanted with him though. Patronising is the word that springs to mind.

I might join you lot.
I've always liked reading, but in recent years have tended to watch clips on YouTube instead of read. So this year I decided to try and read some new books (ones I hadn't read before rather than ones that have been recently published). I tend to read a few pages of a book then put it down for a while, so I could have read more books by now. Am only on third book currently.
Book One was Emily Climbs by LM Montgomery (which is actually the second in a series). I quite enjoyed it.
Book Two was The Russian Interpreter by Michael Frayn. It was OK. Nothing happened for ages, then stuff started happening... when I got to the end, it was a bit like "oh". It ended a bit suddenly I think.
Book Three is Casting Off, fourth Cazalet book (I have managed to read the previous three books in recent years!) It was a requested Christmas present. My mother has read all five books and told me not to read the last one as it's a bit weird/different. So I'm not sure what I'll read next. I have a fair few unread books so I'll make my way through those.
I may not make it to 25 but I'm definitely trying to read more. I also tend to use physical, paperback books as opposed to Kindle ones.